"For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;"
The command in the last verse is from our Lord for us 'to rise and come away.' What has happened? Why now? What's going on? Everything has changed. The command is issued in verse 10; the description of what once was is found in this verse; in verse 12 and 13 life has come and the command is repeated at the end of verse 13 to 'come away'. It is the description of deadness to life. It is the picture of dead in trespasses and sins to everlasting life in Christ. It is the picture of sin abounding and deadness prevailing on His church and then comes - REVIVAL! and so for the next 3 devotions we will look at this picture and how it is for us today!
For, lo, the winter is past - seasons often tell of the life we are living; I am blest to be in an area that has all 4 seasons of the year. I can see and glorify the Lord in all these seasonal changes that HE created and maintains. Winter has its purpose; as all the seasons do. The directive given here in this phrase is that winter has come and 'winter is past'. It's over, that mean something. What does it mean? Spring and summer are ahead. The time of winter brings cold, hibernation, deadness upon nature. the color is gone, the natural life is in retreat and everything looks lifeless. But when spring comes there is the return of warmth, of life, of color all around. IN Jeremiah 8 we have this verse: 'the harvest is past, the summer is ened and we are not yet saved.' This is the opposit of our verse, winter is just beginning at the ened of harvest. But here in this verse, 'the winter is past'.
I want to maintain the two points for our verses, v. 11 - 13. The first being that of a souls's salvation; and secondly, the point of revival for the church. The winter for a lost soul is that there is life in their physical body, but the soul is given unto sin and self. There is no fruit produced that shall last. Their is no life found within them. they breath, they exist, they move but only by God's grace and mercy. The soul is dead in trespasses and sins. But at the end of winter, life begins to show itself. And so the soul that has lived in deadness for so many years, upon hearing the Word of God, they begin to have hope. the soul begins to be quickened by the Holy Spirit to see their deadness and know that their is life. And when the scales are removed from their eyes they can see that winter does not have to continue. Their is newness in Christ. The soul that rejects this continues in winter. But for the soul that receives it, 'The winter is past'.
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